Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Mohsin Hamid’s latest
novel, Exit West, considers the
plight of the thousands of modern refugees being forced to flee their homes by
internal violence that has become the new normal in so many countries around
the world in recent years.As their
countries succumb to political and religious civil wars, hundreds of thousands
of people flee their homelands with nothing but the clothes on their backs and
whatever little they can carry with them.Hamid focuses on two young people, Saeed and Nadia, who are forced to
run for their lives before it is too late – but he gives his story one surreal
little twist.

Much like Colin Whitehead
did in The Underground Railroad,
Hamid interprets the escape mechanism of his refugees literally.Whitehead’s Underground Railroad was
literally underground, complete with train stations and tunnels that connected
certain cites in the South with those further north.Hamid’s characters cross borders by using
literal doors that magically appear in buildings all over the world.Those crossing the thresholds of the doors
have no idea what country they will magically step out into until they arrive,
but the transportation is instantaneous.And, as long as the doors remain “open,” anything is possible.Some refugees, at least for a while, even go
back and forth through the doors in order to bring supplies back to family members
who prefer to remain in their home country.

Mohsin Hamid

Saeed and Nadia live in
an unnamed country that is falling apart before their eyes.The young Muslims are not married and have to
be very careful about how they conduct themselves in public - and even in the
privacy of their own homes – if they are to continue to fly under the radar of
militant Muslims who would gladly punish them for their “sins.”Marriage is not practical under the
circumstances, and when Saeed and Nadia step through their first door out of the
country, they do so single.

That first door opens
into Greece, but for many reasons, Greece will not be the last stop for Saeed
and Nadia.Native populations resent
being overrun by refugees whose cultures are so different from theirs, and
violent clashes with police and private citizens become more and more common as
refugee populations grow in number.The
two decide to move on, finding things to be much the same whichever country
they step into, and the constant search for food and medical care adds to the
fear of violence that Saeed and Nadia already feel.Before long, their relationship begins to
suffer under the stress, and neither seems to have the will to fix the problem.

Although Exit West is told from the refugee
point-of-view, Hamid does not paint a black or white picture of his characters based
upon which side of the border from which they originate.Not all refugees are good people; not all
citizens of the receiving countries are bad.The author chose to focus on the mindsets of his characters, and the use
of magic portals to get them instantly from one country to the next allows him
to do just that.Exit West, while not exactly an eye-opener, is a moving novel that
deserves to be read.

Net Galley Featured Reviewer

GoodReads Reviews

Comment Policy

If you have a concern about any posting or comment being factually incorrect, please contact us. Please provide details of who you are, how we can contact you, what your interest is, and what your concern is. If something has been written that is factually incorrect, it will be addressed. Anonymous complaints will be ignored.